I can't fathom such deep racial divisions but my mom definitely can. I'd say I've had a pretty sheltered life.

I've been Boo'd... right off the stage!

Aaahh, I have been defrosted! Thank you, Bonny and Asiel!
Brrrr, I've been Frosted! Thank you, Asiel and Pomtzu!

"That's the power of kittens (and puppies too, of course): They can reduce us to quivering masses of Jell-O in about two seconds flat and make us like it. Good thing they don't have opposable thumbs or they'd surely have taken over the world by now." -- Paul Lukas

I can't fathom such deep racial divisions but my mom definitely can. I'd say I've had a pretty sheltered life.

We're going to see the movie on Wednesday. I loved the book Plan to read it again - soon.

Elyse - when I lived in Norfolk, Virginia, 1963-64, I worked at a Catholic Hospital. Peds and Ob was not segregated, but the adult Med-Surg unit was. I was aghast, but the Nuns said it was because of the patients, not hospital policy. I also noted the separate restrooms and bubblers (water fountains) around the city. I was not used to this, having been raised in New England.

This is the companion book to the HBO documentary of the same name. Ms. Pelosi visited all 50 states and attended naturalization ceremonies to meet brand-new citizens and find out why they chose America as their home.

After seeing the movie, I started The Help, second reading, on Friday evening. 444 pages later - I just finished it. It's just as good the second time - maybe better after seeing the movie.

I'm about half way through it.

Next up: Savannah Breeze, by Mary Kay Andrews. My mom's book group is reading A Tree Grows in Brooklyn.

The Chicago Public Library has a program called "One Book, One Chicago" where they pick an appropriate book and it is read by students and book groups, discussion sessions at the library and that sort of thing. Sort of an offshoot of Oprah's book club, I think but more classics than new books. The one for fall 2011 is The Adventures of Augie March, by Saul Bellow.

One of the books on our local high school's summer reading list is called Stiff: Curious Lives of Human Cadavers. I have a friend from church who read it after her son read it, and she said it's surprisingly funny.

I've been Boo'd... right off the stage!

Aaahh, I have been defrosted! Thank you, Bonny and Asiel!
Brrrr, I've been Frosted! Thank you, Asiel and Pomtzu!

"That's the power of kittens (and puppies too, of course): They can reduce us to quivering masses of Jell-O in about two seconds flat and make us like it. Good thing they don't have opposable thumbs or they'd surely have taken over the world by now." -- Paul Lukas

Just downloaded "The Help" to my Kindle - will start on it in the next day or so!

When you get an e-book -- do you get the entire book, as you would if you had the actual book? My copy of "The Help" has a note from the author and discussion questions in the back. Do you get the "extras" too- if it had a table of contents, acknowledgements, etc. I read "In the Garden of Beasts" and it had pages of footnotes, some of which had additional information or references that added to the whole story. Can you make the text larger?

I've been Boo'd... right off the stage!

Aaahh, I have been defrosted! Thank you, Bonny and Asiel!
Brrrr, I've been Frosted! Thank you, Asiel and Pomtzu!

"That's the power of kittens (and puppies too, of course): They can reduce us to quivering masses of Jell-O in about two seconds flat and make us like it. Good thing they don't have opposable thumbs or they'd surely have taken over the world by now." -- Paul Lukas

Until Tuesday: A Wounded Warrior and the Golden Retriever Who Saved Him by Luis Carlos Montalvan.

Returning home after two tours of duty in Iraq, former U.S. Army Captain Luis Carlos Montalvan's physical injuries and post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) turn his life into a nightmarish existence. An email with a subject of "WWP and Puppies Behind Bars" alerted him to possible relief with the assistance of a service dog. This is his story but it is also the story of Tuesday, the intelligent, extensively trained but heartbroken golden retriever, who is chosen to become his service dog and constant companion.

True story - you will laugh and cry. Tuesday was partly responsible for the Service Dogs for Veterans Act, Senator Franken's first piece of legislation.

I just finished "Savannah Breeze" -- it's kind of like a chick-flick in a book! It's fun!

And Grace, I re-read "Our Daily Meds" and it made me just as mad as the first time !

I've been Boo'd... right off the stage!

Aaahh, I have been defrosted! Thank you, Bonny and Asiel!
Brrrr, I've been Frosted! Thank you, Asiel and Pomtzu!

"That's the power of kittens (and puppies too, of course): They can reduce us to quivering masses of Jell-O in about two seconds flat and make us like it. Good thing they don't have opposable thumbs or they'd surely have taken over the world by now." -- Paul Lukas

Our Daily Meds: How the Pharmaceutical Companies Transformed Themselves into Slick Marketing Machines and Hooked the Nation on Prescription Drugs by Melody Petersen.

I will never look at drug advertising again without remembering what I read.

Bringing this old thread up again because I loaned out my copy of "Our Daily Meds" and never got it back. A few weeks ago I attended a very interesting nursing continuing education program on prescription drug use and abuse, which got me thinking about the book I no longer had. I bought another copy and I'm reading it again. One of the nurses at the CE program recommended to me "Selling Sickness" by Moynihan and Cassels. I got that through my university library (one reason I love being an alumna!).

The next book for my mom's book club is "Moloka'i" by Alan Brennert. It's about a a 7 year old girl who is diagnosed with leprosy and sent to a settlement, away from her family, in Hawaii in the 1890s. I read and liked it. What I liked about it was the history of Hawaii from the 1890s until statehood. It's quite long and detailed which is why they're taking two months to read it (no meeting in December). I don't think I could read it again, though because it is very sad in some spots.

The fall 2012 book for the "One Book, One Chicago" program is called "The Book Thief" by Markus Zusak. I haven't read it, and I don't know anyone who has.

I've been Boo'd... right off the stage!

Aaahh, I have been defrosted! Thank you, Bonny and Asiel!
Brrrr, I've been Frosted! Thank you, Asiel and Pomtzu!

"That's the power of kittens (and puppies too, of course): They can reduce us to quivering masses of Jell-O in about two seconds flat and make us like it. Good thing they don't have opposable thumbs or they'd surely have taken over the world by now." -- Paul Lukas

I would love to read "Memoirs of a Geisha". I'd also like to read "The Great Gatsby" again. Read it in high school and again in college because it was assigned - I'd like to read it again, just because. I just finished "The Last Juror" by John Grisham, which I got at Half Price Books

I also have a book on diagnosis and treatment for autism spectrum disorders that I need to read for work. Part of my job involves reviewing rehabilitation therapy services for medical appropriateness, and I need to learn more about autism, especially about treatments.

Oh my goodness, I still have not re-read "The Great Gatsby", and it's now 3 1/2 years since I posted about it! But it is coming out as a film again with Leonardo DiCaprio and Tobey Maguire. I'd like to re-read it before the film comes out. I'd like to see the Robert Redford film again too.

I've been Boo'd... right off the stage!

Aaahh, I have been defrosted! Thank you, Bonny and Asiel!
Brrrr, I've been Frosted! Thank you, Asiel and Pomtzu!

"That's the power of kittens (and puppies too, of course): They can reduce us to quivering masses of Jell-O in about two seconds flat and make us like it. Good thing they don't have opposable thumbs or they'd surely have taken over the world by now." -- Paul Lukas

For those of us with an interest in all things medical, 2 more books. I have not read either of them yet, but wiil - soon.

1. Happy Accidents: Serendipity in Major Medical Breakthroughs in the Twentieth Century by Morton A. Meyers, M.D.

2. Shakespeare's Tremor and Orwell's Cough - The Medical Lives of Famous Writers by John J. Ross, M.D.

Have any of you read any of the Louise Penny books? Mysteries set in a tiny town in Quebec. I have never read anything like them. Bought the first in the series, and by page 10 I was hooked - ordered all the rest that were out at that time. Her most recent one was last August. Anxiousl waiting for the next due out the end of August.